{"id":46746,"date":"2025-10-26T11:36:53","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T10:36:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/2025\/10\/26\/the-macrocyclic-peptide-rhesus-theta-defensin-1-activates-interferon-and-antiviral-pathways-in-human-monocytesprasad-tongaonkar-on-26-de-october-de-2025-at-1000\/"},"modified":"2025-10-26T11:36:53","modified_gmt":"2025-10-26T10:36:53","slug":"the-macrocyclic-peptide-rhesus-theta-defensin-1-activates-interferon-and-antiviral-pathways-in-human-monocytesprasad-tongaonkar-on-26-de-october-de-2025-at-1000","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/2025\/10\/26\/the-macrocyclic-peptide-rhesus-theta-defensin-1-activates-interferon-and-antiviral-pathways-in-human-monocytesprasad-tongaonkar-on-26-de-october-de-2025-at-1000\/","title":{"rendered":"The Macrocyclic Peptide Rhesus Theta Defensin 1 Activates Interferon and Antiviral Pathways in Human Monocytes\u200bPrasad Tongaonkar   on 26 de October de 2025 at 10:00"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><b>J Leukoc Biol<\/b>. 2025 Oct 25:qiaf150. doi: 10.1093\/jleuko\/qiaf150. Online ahead of print.<\/p>\n<p><b>ABSTRACT<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Rhesus theta defensin (RTD)-1, a cyclic antimicrobial peptide, regulates gene expression and immune signaling pathways in cell culture and animal models of immune mediated diseases. In LPS stimulated cells, RTD-1 inhibition of pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion and gene expression is mediated through inhibition of the NF-\u03baB and MAP kinase signaling pathways. To gain insights into RTD-1 regulation of na\u00efve cells, we performed RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) to determine the effect of the peptide on global gene expression in human monocytes and THP-1 monocytes. In both cell types, analysis of differentially expressed genes revealed stimulation of interferon and antiviral gene expression pathways. RTD-1 induced Y701 phosphorylation of STAT1 and activated the Interferon Stimulated Response Element (ISRE) reporter in a Janus Kinase (JAK) dependent manner. Stimulation of the ISRE reporter by RTD-1 was Interferon-alpha\/beta receptor dependent but was independent of its NF-\u03baB inhibitory activity in LPS stimulated cells. RTD-1 inhibited infection of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) pseudotyped with G glycoprotein or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Spike protein in THP-1 and Vero E6 cells respectively. RTD-1 also inhibited infection of Calu-3 2B4 cells by SARS-CoV-2 virus demonstrating antiviral activity of RTD-1 in diverse cell types. These results demonstrate that RTD-1 stimulates interferon and antiviral pathways, potentially priming cells for resistance to viral infection.<\/p>\n<p>PMID:<a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/41139211\/?utm_source=SimplePie&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_content=8405628&amp;ff=20251026063652&amp;v=2.18.0.post22+67771e2\">41139211<\/a> | DOI:<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1093\/jleuko\/qiaf150\">10.1093\/jleuko\/qiaf150<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>J Leukoc Biol. 2025 Oct 25:qiaf150. doi: 10.1093\/jleuko\/qiaf150. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT Rhesus theta defensin (RTD)-1, a cyclic antimicrobial peptide, regulates gene expression and immune signaling pathways in cell culture and animal models of immune mediated diseases. In LPS stimulated cells, RTD-1 inhibition of pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion and gene expression is mediated through inhibition &#8230; <a title=\"The Macrocyclic Peptide Rhesus Theta Defensin 1 Activates Interferon and Antiviral Pathways in Human Monocytes\u200bPrasad Tongaonkar   on 26 de October de 2025 at 10:00\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/2025\/10\/26\/the-macrocyclic-peptide-rhesus-theta-defensin-1-activates-interferon-and-antiviral-pathways-in-human-monocytesprasad-tongaonkar-on-26-de-october-de-2025-at-1000\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about The Macrocyclic Peptide Rhesus Theta Defensin 1 Activates Interferon and Antiviral Pathways in Human Monocytes\u200bPrasad Tongaonkar   on 26 de October de 2025 at 10:00\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[86,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-journal-of-leukocyte-biology","category-publicaciones"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46746\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}